Chimney cleaner



Feb. 27,' 1923.

G. KOHLf CHIMNEY CLEANER.

FILED MAR 3 SHEETS-SHEET l\ Feb. 27, 1923e T. G. KOHI..

CHIIVINEY CLEANER.

H LED MAR. 24. 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

M JM,

Feb. 27, 1923. 1,446,567. T. G. KOHL. CHIMNEY CLEANER.

flu-:D MAR. 24, .1921. 3 SHEETS-SHEET a.

Patented 27, 1923 entren THEODQRE G. ROEL, 0F WAUSAU, WISCONSEN.

Application filed. March 2e, 1921.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Trinononn G. Korn., a citizen of the United States, residing` at ldlausau, in the county of Marathon and State of l/Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Chimney Cleaners, of which the following is a specitication.

This invention relates to chimney cleaners and particularly to a chimney cleaner which is adapted to remain in the chimney at all times. An object of the invention is to provide a chimney cleaner which leaves a clear passage for the falling soot which it dislodges from the chimney, and a further object is to provide a chimney cleaner which presents no obstruction to falling soot when it is in inoperative position. [i further object is to provide a cl'iimuey cleaner in which the cleaning element acts upon approximately onehalf of the chimney periphery at a time, thereby leaving substantially one-half of the chimney clear for falling soot. More particularly a further object is to provide an apparatus of the character described in which the cleaning element is effectively maintained in contact with the portion of the chimney wall upon which it is operating.

The advantageous features above specified are attained in the specific embodiment of my invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a chimney equipped with the invention,

Fig. 2, is a vertical section taken at right angles to Fig. 1, l

Fig. 3, is an enlarged vertical section of the lower portion of the' apparatus,

Fig. el is a horizontal section through thev chimney and showing the cleaning element in operative position,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the manner of attaching the cleaning element to the chain. v

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the cleaning' element,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the stop mechanism.

ln the drawings 1 indicates a chimney equipped with the invention, and pro-vided with they customary lining 1', the usual in` lets for pipes, only one pipe 2, however being shown, and with theusual soot collecting pan cnnrnvnr emanen.

Serial No. 455,045.

pan 3, the chimney is provided with an frame 4t, which is held in place by bolts Y. 5 which pass through external flanges 6, 6 on the frame and angle bars 7, 7 located within the chimney. A shaft 8 passes through and is loosely journaled in frame 4i and is provided with an inner yielding bearing 9, which comprises a spring wire coiled about the shaft 8 and carried by the lower angle bar 7 by means of fastenings 10, 10. rlhe shaft 8 is positioned in the frame 4. by means of an internal collar 11 and an external gear 12, both of which are provided with set screws for clamping them to the shaft. Due to the yielding bearing 9, the shaft 8 has some angular movement through the frame l but a good bearing is maintained at frame 4l bythe conical face 11 of the collar 11. Gear 12 is driven by a toothed hand wheel 13 mounted on a plate low the shaft 8, but it is obvious that hand wheel 13 may be swung upwardly by'properly positioning the plate 14, and such an arrange-nient may be desirable when the lowest position of wheel 13 would interfere with the soot pan 13. For convenience in installation or repair the frame a is preferably provided with a door 16.

The inner end of shaft 8 carries a sprocket or other driving wheel 17, and a flanged pulley 18 is supported above sprocket 17 and near the upper end of the chimney by means of a threaded rod 19. The rod 19 passes through the threaded plate 2O on the interior of the chimney and is held in position by means of a nut 21, which engages a plate 22 through which the rod 19 passes freely. An endless band or chain 23 passes over sprocket 17 and pulley 18 and carries a member 24. to which the cleaning element -is attached. The preferred form of member 24 is illustrated in Fig. 5 and said member comprises a channel member carrying pivots 25 and 26 which are'spaced apart by a distance equivalent to the length of one llink of the chain 23. One pivot 25 passes through the end of one link of the chain and the other pivot 26 carriesv a hook 27 for engaging the link at the opposite end of chain 23. rlhe ends of channel member 24 are extended beyond the pivots 25, 26 to form supports for plates 28, 29 between` which the cleaning element is clamped. Asshown in Fig. 5 plates 28, 28 are notched at the inner side to provide a central projection 29 and sideprojections 30, 30. The central projection 29 is bent at right angles to the body of the plate and is attached to channel members 2a by means of rivet 31. The plates are identical in construction but are connected to member' 24 with the projections 29 extending in oppositel directions, thereby giving increased rigidity to the construction. rl`he cleaner' proper which is clamped between the plates 28', 28 con'iprises a brush or scraper which in plan, is substantially equal in'area to onehalf'the cross-section area of the chimney flue. The brush or scraper may be formed of wire or other suitable material, but I pre- -fer vto forml the cleaner from two metal plates-32 by slotting or cutting away portions of theplates to leave arcuate scrapers The spacing of the scrapers 33 is such lends thereof, and this construction may be attained either by cutting the opposite sides v"which they are to be employed.

along lines of different rates of curvature or bycutting along lines of the same rate of curvature but with the centers of curvature offset. The plates 32 are made of thin metal and are slightly larger thanthe chimney in y As the scrapers`33 arey resilient they will yield in f their own planel to allow the introduction of the cleaner into the chimney and in use the "individual scrapers will yield, as shown at K1 n Eig. '1l-,in passing over depressions or i projections .on the face of the chimney. Also,

and due to the arcuate form of the scrapers,

vthe' cleaning` end 33" of the scrapers may v readily swing out of the planek of the plate 4in passing `large projections, as shown at y, Figa 4. Thisswinging or tilting of the end 33 of a scraper 33not only allows it to clear f 'the projections in the chimney, but' aids in- "1 discharging any soot which vmay'have lodged on thelscraper. 'A furtherpoint to be noted yin connection "with the arcuate form of scraper isthat except for incidentaltilting fof theindividual scrapers as they pass over A1rlarge:projections,the scrapers 33 lie substaiitiallyin theplane of the plate 32.` This is of importance as the scrapers are thereby i ,casper presented normal to the surface upon which` they operate and vthere is no tendency for the scrapers to dig into the wall or to bind in the chimney as would be the case if the resilient scrapers" were flared out of the plane of the plate 32.

To-hold the-cleaning elementin Contact` with the surface of the chimney, 1 provide a spring 35, which may be substantially` circular in shape, and the oppositeends of the spring are connected to the plates 28 by any .suitablel means. Forsecuring greater resiliency, the spring 35' is preferably provided ing plate 38 which is carried on the Vlower y rangle barI 7 and the outer end of the stop carries an arm 39. When the cleaneris moved against the crank 37 as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, the cranlr` 37j rotates in bearing 38 until the arm 39 engages the angle bar 7. lf the cleaner approaches the stop from the opposite side a similar movement may take place. The cleaner is thereby positioned in a; vertical. position and the flue is substantially free from obstruction regardless of the direction from which the cleaner approaches thefmovable stop. When the cleaner is installed in a chimney the length of the chain 23 is so adjusted that a stress will be set up in the spring bearing 9 which will tend to pull the shaft 8 downward .1 TWhen the chain 23 becomes heated by the products of combustion which pass through the chimney` any expansion will be taken up by the tension in the chain due to the stress originally set-up iu the spring bearing. y f

When it is desired to clean the chimney in which the apparatus is installed the hand wheel 13 isrotated and the brush is carried up one side of the chimney, thereby scraping the accumulated soot from the walls. As substantially one-half of the flue'is unobstructed, the soot may readily fall down into soot pan 3, Continued rotation of the hand wheel 13 carries `the cleaner over the` pulley 18 and down the other side` ofthe chimney.. thereby cleaning the Z'other half of the walls. Due to the spring 35' and to the resiliency of the scrapers 33, the scrapers maintain an effective contact with the walls of the chimney. even though the interior of the chimney may not be exactly vertical or may have a rough surface. The yyielding bearingk9 permits the shaft 8 to; move toja limited extent; thereby cooperating' with 4spring 35 in allowing the cleaner to adjust itself to inequalities in the surface of the chimney.

lffhile the specific embodiment above described is the preferred form ofimy invention it is to be understood tl at the invention is not limited thereto, but that changes may be made in the various elements and in the relative size, shape and location of the same.

l claim:-

l. chimney cleaner comprising an endless band Within the chimney, means for supporting and driving said endless band, a cleaner mounted on said endless band and consisting of a plurality of superposed sets of arcuate scrapers arranged substantially in planes normal to the chimney Walls.

:2. A chimney cleaner as claimed in claim l in which the adjacent sets of arcuate scrapers are curved in opposite directions.

A chimney cleaner comprising a pulley located Within a chimney and near the upper end thereof, a band supported on said pulley` means for moving said band, a cleaner carried by said band and movable over said pulley, said cleaner having a Working face contacting in operation With substantially one-half the inner periphery of the chimney, and a spring for holding said cleaner in contact with the Walls of the chimney.

4. A. chimney cleaner as claimed in claim 3 in which said cleaner comprises a plurality of sets of arcuate scrapers arranged substantially in planes normal to the chimney Walls, the adjacent set-s of arcuate scrapers being curved in opposite directions.

5. A chimney cleaner comprising an endless band Within a chimney, a cleaner carried by said band and having a Working face contacting in operation with substantially one-half the inner periphery of the chimney, and a movable stop for arresting said cleaner in a vertical plane as said cleaner moves into inoperative position.

6. A chimney cleaner comprising an endless band Within a chimney, a cleaning element carried by said band, upper and lower' rotatable elements for supporting said band, means for driving said band and means for tensioning said band.

7. A chimney cleaner comprising an endless band located Within a chimney, a cleaning element carried by said band, upper and lower rotatable elements for supporting said band, means for rotating one of said elements for driving said band, and means biased to urge said elements apart for tensioning said band.

8. A chimney cleaner comprising a shaft extending into a chimney near one end thereof, a sprocket on said shaft, a pulley Within and near the other end of the chimney, an endless band supported by said sprocket and pulley, a cleaning element mounted on said endless band, and means including a yielding bearing for supporting said shaft.

9. A chimney cleaner comprising a shaft extending into a chimney near one end thereof, a sprocket on said shaft, a pulley Within and near the other end of the chimney, an endless band supported by said sprocket and pulley, a cleaning element mounted on said endless band, and means for supporting said shaft and tensioning said band.

10. A chimney cleaner comprising a supporting frame attached to a chimney near the lower end thereof, a shaft having one end journaled in said frame and extending into the chimney, a yielding bearing mounted on said frame and supporting the opposite end of said shaft, a sprocket on said shaft, a pulley located Within and near the upper end of the chimney, an endless band passing around said sprocket and pulley and a cleaning element carried by said band.

In testimony whereof, l afIiX my signature.

THEODORE G. KGHL. 

